Having had a reasonably long association with Sapporo through my wife, I can thoroughly recommend Sapporo as a great place to live – especially if you’re a winter/snow kinda person. It’s the fifth largest city in Japan, and a modern trendy metropolis that’s just minutes away from some great scenery. It’s an easy place to get around, and the food’s fantastic (especially seafood, but all of the fresh produce is great). The only catch is that if you don’t like snowy winters, than please avoid. The other slight downside is that because the city is relatively new (from the 1860’s or thereabouts), and Hokkaido was opened up to mainstream Japanese colonisation around the same time, the island does lack a lot of the historical Japanese cultural icons. There’s no ancient temples or real castles – and you won’t see too many women walking around in kimono. But if you’re more interested in modern Japan, than that won’t be a problem.
Although I’m also not familiar with the universities in Sapporo, I’d definitely recommend the city to all people that want to live in Japan…. but want to avoid the big city crush.
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